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OBSEQUIES 



ABEAHAM LINCOLN, 



Newark, N. J., April 19, 1865. 



ORATION 



FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN, ESQ. 



NEWARK, N. J.: 

PRINTED AT THE DAILY ADVERTISER OFFICE. 
1865. 



St 




I 



Newakk, N. J., April 22d, 1865. 
Hon. F. T, Frelinghutsen— 

Dear Sir: 

In pursuance of a resolution adopted by the 
citizens of Newark, assembled on the 19th instant to commemorate the obsequies of the 
late President of the United States, we respectfully ask that you Avill furnish for publica- 
tion a copy of the eloquent and appropriate address delivered by you on that occasion. 
We trust that you wiU kindly comply with this request, in order that the proceedings of 
an occasion so marked and solemn may be put in form for preservation. 
In behalf of the Committee of Arrangements, we are 
Very truly yours, 

MARCUS L. WAED, Chairman. 
A. Q. KEASBEY, Secretary. 



Newark, April 24th, 1865. 
Gentlemen : 

In compliance with the request of our fellow-citizens, so kindly communi- 
cated by you, I transmit for publication my hastily prepared address on the occasion of the 
funeral obsequies of our lamented President. 

Yours truly, 

FRED'K T. FEELINGHUYSEN. 
To Messrs. Marctts L. Ward, Chairman, and A. Q. Keasbey, Sec'y. 



PRELIMINARY ARRANGEMENTS. 



On Monday, April 17, a public meeting was held at Library Hall, to 
make aiTangements for obsequies in commemoration of Abraham 
Lincoln, late President of the United States, whose death by the hand 
of an assassin took place on Saturday, April 15. William A. White- 
head, Esq., was appointed Chairman of the meeting, and John Y, 
Foster, Esq., Secretary. 

The following gentlemen were appointed a committee with full power 
to make arrangements for suitable ceremonies : 

Marcus L. Ward, Albert Beach, 

Silas Merchant, James L. Hays, 

Daniel Haines, Daniel Latjck, 

Orson Wilson, A. Q. Keasbey, 

B. Prieth, Francis Mackin, 
George A. Halsey, William A. Whitehead, 
Moses Bigelow, William E. Sturges, 
John H. Kase, Francis Brill, 
Theodore Runyon, John Y. Foster, 
Thomas T. Kinney, John C. Littell, 

Dr. F. Ill, Thomas R. Williams, 

Christopher Wiedenmeyer, James M. Smith, 

Dr. J. A, Cross, David Anderson, 

Wm. B. Guild, Jr., James Rowe. 

The following gentlemen were appointed a committee to prepare 
resolutions to be read at the celebration : 

Rev. E. M. Levy, Dr. S. H. Pennington, 

C. L. C. Gifford, a. Q, Keasbey, 

Rev. George H. Doane. 

The Committee of Anangements announced on the following day 
that they had determined upon a funeral j)rocession, and an oration, to 
take place on Wednesday, April 19, simultaneously with the funeral 
services at Washington, and requested the city authorities, the various 
public bodies and associations, and the citizens generally, to participate, 



6 

Federal salute to be fired at sunrise, and all business to be suspended 
throughout the city. 

On Wednesday, April 19, the day devoted to the celebration of the 
obsequies in pursuance of the foregoing arrangements, the whole city 
was literally in mourning. Business was everywhere suspended, and a 
deep solemnity and stillness rested upon the crowded streets. The 
tokens of sorrow were universally displayed upon iDublic and jjrivate 
buildings. 

Upon the tolling of the bells, at noon, the people assembled in their 
various churches, in accordance with the Governor's proclamation, where 
religious services suitable to the solemn occasion were held and appro- 
priate addi'esses made. 

At 3 P. M., the j3rocession moved from the corner of Broad and Market 
streets, through Market to Washington, down Washington to Broad, uj) 
Broad to Wasliington Place, through Washington Place to Washington 
street, ui> Washington street to Broad, down Broad to Centre street, and 
thence to Military Park. 

The following was the order of the procession : 

Detachment of Police. 
Major William W. Morris, Grand Marshal and Aids. 
Military Escort. 
First National Guard and Eifle Corps. 
Officers of the Army and Navy. 
Invalid Soldiers. 
Officers and Soldiers of the Army out of service. 
Band. 
Pall Bearers. • Pall Bearers. 

Maecus L. Ward, H Samuel P. Smith, ^ " 

William A. Whitehead, cb John A. Bofpe, 

James M. Quinbt, pj Dr. Fridolin III, 

William A. Mtek, ^ Cornelius Walsh, 

Thomas B. Peddie, ■« Moses T. Baker, 

Beach Vanderfool, Frederick Wuesthoff. 

Joseph Ward, K 

Veteran Reserve Corps as Guard of Honor. 
Orator. 
Clergy. 
Government and State Officers. 
Mayor and Common Council. 
Police. 
Band. 
Fire Department. 
Masonic Order, under William D. Kinney, Marshal. 
Odd Fellows, under Amos H. Searfoss, Marshal. 
William S. Whitehead, Grand Master State of New Jersey. 
Newark Mutual Aid Association. 
Protestant Association. 
German Organizations— Philip Somer, Marshal. 
Social Turners— William Knecht. 
Aurora, Eintracht, Liederkranz, Arion, Concordia and Teutonia Singing So- 
cieties— J. P. Hnber. 
Fickler Lodge, Benevolent Society— G. Benkert. 
Humbolt " " " —J. Gemeinder. 



Muehlenberg and Robert Blum Lodges, Benevolent Societies— C. Miller. 

Washington, Lafayette and Jefiferson " " " — Chas. Fargel. 

No Surrender Lodge, Benevolent Society— Chas. Seifert. 

Mandas Stamm, Red Men Society— John Lingsman. 

Mamakaus Stamm, Red Men Society— F. Hause. 

Miamies, Ratuca and Union Stamms, Red Men Societies— G. Stetenfeld. 

Robert Blum Association and Benevolent Society No. 1 — J. Beisinger. 

Mendelssohn and Teutonia Benevolent Societies— I. Lehman. 

Shoemakers' and Bakers' Associations, Friendship Club and Newark Benevolent 

Association— Schaefer. 

Clinton Township L. & J. Club. 

Newark Young Men's Literary Society. 

Trade Associations. 

Hibernian Provident Benevolent Society. 

Shamrock Benevolent Society. 

Erina Benevolent Society. 

Laborers' Benevolent Society. 

Emerald Benevolent Society. 

St. James' Benevolent Society, 

St. Joseph's Benevolent Society. 

St. Peter's Benevolent Society. 

St. Patrick's Temperance Society. 

Young Men's Roman Catholic Association. 

Second Di\ision of St. Patrick's Temperance Society. 

Citizens generally. 

The Marshals. 

Bells were tolled and Biinute guns fired during the march of the 

procession, which occupied an hour in passing a given point, and 

arrived at the Park at 4J P. M. At that place an immense assemblage 

had gathered. Marcus L. Wakd, Esq., took the chair, and the exercises 

were opened with a dirge by Dodworth's Band, followed by a hymn 

from the German Singing Society, which was sung with much feeling 

and expression. The Rev. Mr. Levy, Chairman of the Committee on 

Resolutions, then offered the following, which were adopted : 

The citizens of Newark, assembled era masse beneath the shadow of a great sorrow, 
Would express in befitting words their sentiments and feelings in view of the recent 
Striking down of the honored head of the Nation by the hands of murderous violence. 

Besolved, That we feel the utter inadequacy of language to measure our astonishment 
and horror at the daring enormity of the crime committed. 

Besolved, That in the presence of this awful dispensation of Providence, it becomes us, 
the citizens of Newark here assembled, in common with our fellow countrymen through- 
out the Union, to bow with humble submission under the rod that has smitten us, and 
with penitence and confession of our national and personal sins to implore God's mercy 
upoij us and our afflicted people. 

Msolved, That the virtues of Abraham Lincoln speak trumpet-tongued against the 
execrable deed that has cut short his useful life and deprived the Republic of his invalu. 
able services— that now more than ever the insulted majesty of the Nation stands in urgent 
need of vindication ; and that while we would deprecate aU vindictive excess, we are 
nevertheless of the opinion that the laws of God and the instincts of outraged humanity 
justify and demand that at least the chief plotters and abettors of a rebellion which has 
deluged the land vrith blood, should not be allowed to go unpunished. 

Besolved, That we recognize in the brutal murder of the President, and the attempted 
assassination of the Secretary of State, lying as he was on a sick bed and rendered de- 
fenceless by wounds, the same fiendish spirit engendered by slavery, which, years ago, 
shocked the nation with its barbarous violence, and at last has fiUed the land with lamen- ' 
tation and bitter sorrow, making it the imperative duty of the Government never to cease 
the struggle in which we are engaged, until this pestilent cause of all our troubles is for- 
ever eradicated from our soil. 



Sesolved, That, while we will retaia in cherished remembrance the virtues of that il- 
lustrious man to whom, and whose compatriots, under God, we owe the foundation of the 
free institutions we enjoy, our hearts will not consent to withhold an equal place in their 
affectionate and grateful remembrance, from the martyred patriot, whose life has just been 
sacrificed for their maintenance ; assured that while time lasts and a reverence for virtue 
and loyalty remains, the names of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln will 
stand together in emblazoned characters on history's brightest page, the one as the Father, 
the other as the Saviour of his country. 

Resolved, That we extend to the afflicted family of our late President our sincere sympa- 
thy, assuring them that their affliction and sorrow arc not theirs alone, but are shared by 
the entire Nation, and that we commend them to the protection and loving regard of the 
God of all grace and comfort. 

Resolved, That cur sympathies are due and are hereby tendered to the honored Secretary 
of State, himself the purposed victim of foul conspiracy ; and that we regard it a cause 
for special and devout thanksgiving that the transcendent ability, which has been so skill- 
fully employed in averting threatened foreign complications with our domestic troubles, 
is still saved to our afflicted country in this hour of her severest trial. 

Resolved, That we tender to the distinguished citijseu called of God in a manner so 
signal and solemn, to assume the duties of the Chief Executive office, the expression of 
our confidence in his patriotism and earnest purpose to administer, in dependence on 
Divine assistance, the aflairs of this great people, with the assurance of our earnest sup- 
port in his efforts to uphold the Government and maintain its authority over our entire 
National territory. 

Resolved, That over the prostrate body of our murdered President it is eminently fit and 
proper that every good citizen, every patriot, every man who wishes to be thought an up- 
holder of order, and a free Government, should now, ignoring party, swear fresh allegi- 
ance to the National cause, and new devotion to the work of saving, under God, this great 
Republic from dismemberment and overthrow. 

Another dirge by the band was followed by the Oration of Hon. 
Frederick T. Frelinghuysen. 

The " Star-Spangled Banner " and " Rally Round the Flag " were 
then given by the band, after which, on motion, a resolution was 
adopted returning thanks to Mr. Frelinghuysen for his aljle oration, 
and requesting a copy of the same for publication. In conclusion, 
the vast multitude was led by Alderman James L. Hats in singing the 
grand old Doxology — " Praise God from whom all blessings flow.'" 



ORATION. 



Fellow-Citizens : 

The songs of Victory ; the patriot's con- 
gratulations at the speedy advent of Peace ; the bells pealing 
their anthems of praise to God, are suddenly hushed. The 
proud huzzah is turned to lamentation, and the land is 
shrouded with the signals of distress. A grief such as can 
only come to the great heart of a Nation has fallen upon us. 

The kind, the unpretending, the patient, the laborious, the 
brave, the wise, the great and good Abraham Lincoln is 
dead ! The Nation's heart should " melt and be poured out 
like water." 

We bow, Oh ! God, beneath thy rod. 

After being called to the Chief-Magistracy of this Nation by 
the overwhelming voice of the people ; after having borne, 
for four years, a weight of toil and care and responsibility, 
such as, perhaps, no other man has borne ; after having 
brought the nation through a complication of difficulties which 
the best men among us at times have believed would engulph 
us in ruin ; when he was just introducing the Nation to the 
halcyon days of peace ; when, by acts of sublime magna- 
nimity, appealing to the better instincts of man's nature, he 
was endeavoring to join the hands of this estranged people ; 
when, to all human appearances, his intimate and severely ac- 
quired knowledge of the conflicting interests, motives and 
passions of the crisis, was essential to the welfare of the Ee- 
public ; when the thanks of a rescued people were just being 
poured upon him ; when his wisdom and his patriotism had 
taken from party spirit its bitterness, and all were uniting in 
2 



10 

testimony to his greatness and his goodness — it is, at this point 
of time, at this juncture of events, in the inscrutable provi- 
dence of God, the fearful tidings reach us that Abraham 
Lincoln is dead ! 

That mind, in all its comprehensive originality, stored with 
practical wisdom, to us invaluable, has now left the transitory 
scenes of time ! That heart which was moved to active sym- 
pathy for all in the wide world who were afflicted, down- 
trodden or oppressed, will never beat again! That hand 
which, while it swayed the sceptre of a great Nation, none of 
any state, condition or color were too poor or too degraded to 
grasp, is now cold and stiff and motionless ! Ah ! afflicted 
country, go and mourn. 

" It is manliness to be heart-broken here, 

For the grave of earth's best nobleness is watered by the tear." 

Go deck with mourning wreath your Nation's ensign, for 
the second Father of his Country is no more. 

When hereafter selfish ambition shall distract and divide 
the Cabinet counsel of the Nation, you can no longer com- 
posedly say, Lincoln is there ! When hereafter an uninformed 
and inflammatory press shall assail valuable civil or military 
officers, you can no longer quietly lay aside the journal, with 
the satisfactory consolation, Lincoln is there ! When here- 
after complications and difficulties arise with foreign nations, 
knowing the sagacity and peace-loving disposition of your 
leader, you can no longer exultingly say, Lincoln is there ! 
When hereafter the true friends of the country, with earnest- 
ness and talent, shall advocate two diverse and opposite plans 
for the restoi*ation of the Nation, one crying for justice and 
for "^ngeance, and the other counselling pardon and forbear- 
ance, you can no longer lay your head gently on its pillow, 
under the conviction that Lincoln is there ! No, he is not 
there ! He has gone ! Gone to the reward of those who, in 
imitation of our great Exemplar, forget themselves for the 
welfare of others. 

Did I say, that the Nation mourned because Abraham 



11 

Lincoln was dead ? I told but half the truth. Had he died 
in the course of nature, surrounded by all the tender assidui- 
ties of affection, and had he left this anxious world of trouble 
for his home above, leaving us his parting counsel and benedic- 
tion, we would have sorrowed for him most deeply ; but the 
heart of this afflicted people has vastly more than that sorrow 
to bear. It is anguished and torn by the conflicting emotions 
of sorrow and bereavement on the one hand, and indignation 
and desire for justice on the other. 

In Abraham Lincoln was not only centered the affections 
of the people, but he impersonated the majestic dignity of this 
great Christian Nation — to protect and vindicate which dignity 
aU men of all parties would be ready, if needs be, again to 
drench this land in blood and tears and ready to give up life 
and property ; the Chief Magistrate, who thus impersonated 
the Nation's dignity, is not only dead, but is foully murdered. 

Let the vile miscreant who did the deed die as he deserves. 
But ah ! our President had other murderers than that aban- 
doned man. He was murdered by the two nefarious Powers 
which, in God's strength he had bravely fought and bravely 
vanquished, and which were at that moment expiring — 
Human Slavery and KebeUion against Freedom. 

The proximate cause of this agonizing event is a small 
leaden missile and a few grains of powder ; but the real, the 
true, the responsible cause of this atrocity, is the two malign 
agencies which in these later years have been holding their 
carnival of crime and cruelty and causing the land to wreak 
with blood. This diabolical consummation is the legitimate 
result of the spirit they have been inculcating. 

It matters not whether the counsel of the assassin's accom- 
plice to " wait until Eichmond could be heard from ;" whether 
the fact that the day selected for the deed was that on which 
the Nation's banner was re-instated on Sumter ; whether the 
fact that months ago public advertisement offered a reward for 
a man to assassinate the President ; whether the fact that a 
scheme did exist to seize and carry him off beyond the ene- 



12 

my's lines ; whether the fact that this plot included the whole 
Cabinet — prove or do not prove that the itinerant government 
of Eichmond instigated the deed. Those who would trace 
this crime to its proper source and then profit by their conclu- 
sion, must accept the truth that the murderers are the two 
foul powers I have named. One of which, for generations, 
has grown rich in luxurious indolence by the sweat of 
others brows, has revelled in the degradation of those 
who were without the ability to resist, has severed the ten- 
derest ligatures of the human heart by tearing husband 
from wife, and mother from children, and has made the lash 
and often death the sanction by which to enforce its tyranny ; 
it has withheld from God's immortal creatures the blessed 
privilege of reading His gospel of salvation ; has reduced a 
class well called "poor whites" to a condition little better 
than the slave, and has robbed those who would be true to 
their country of the benefits of our priceless institutions. It 
is the same vile power which at one time by its insidious 
blandishments has seduced Northern freemen into an abject 
servility to its will, and at another time has bullied the coun- 
sels of this Nation into a shape to it agreeable. It is the same 
that has rendered its votaries arrogant and inhuman, the same 
that struck Sumner down, and which now, in the agonies of its 
dissolution, has dealt a blow upon him, who, as God's instru- 
ment, I believe, has vanquished it. 

The otheV murderer is the offspring, (as death is of sin,) of 
that I have just named. It is that foul spirit which rebelled 
without cause, and without the assignment of any cause, against 
the fairest and best government of the world ; which has laid 
in many an unknown grave, cold and stark and dead, hundreds 
of thousands of the best youth of the Nation. It is that spirit 
which has filled our land with widows and orphans ; that has 
murdered by starvation tens of thousands of our brave 
soldiers, fighting to maintain civil liberty for the world ; the 
same that prompted commissioned bandit raiders to rob our 
banks and murder unarmed and quiet citizens ; the same that 



13 

has thrown from the track trains of cars, the inmates — women 
and children — all unguarded and unconscious of danger ; the 
same that has striven, with the incendiary's torch, to reduce to 
a seething, burning mass the multitudinous throng attendant 
on our places of public amusement, and to send anguish to 
every hamlet in the land by the simultaneous destruction of 
most of the crowded hotels in yonder metropolis. It is the 
same spirit that while this horrid deed was being done, in the 
person of that ruffian leaped on the sick bed of our honored 
Secretary of State, and with the assassin's blade sought to 
extinguish a heroism which every other expedient had failed 
to silence. 

These ! Slavery and Eebellion, are the murderers of our 
Chief Magistrate. Let the vile instrument who, over the 
shoulders of a doting wife, assassinated the benefactor of his 
race, die! 

But come, you noble, just and true men of all parties with 
me, to the altaij-s of your country and there record it, that these 
foul murderers of our race, as well as of our President, shall 
no longer have a foot-place in free America. 

Those influences which transmute the sober-minded Ameri- 
can citizen into frenzied fiends — burning with a murderous 
fanaticism, ready, reckless of danger and death, to assassinate 
whoever is pointed out for vengeance ; those influences which 
render the stiletto and the pistol, rather than argument and the 
peaceful ballot, the arbiters of the destinies of the Nation, must 
be torn up, root and branch, and burned in the hot fire of a 
holy indignation, or we are undone forever. 

For more than four years ; yes, ever since Abraham Lin- 
coln had the hardihood, as a free American citizen, to accept 
a nommation for the Presidency, the pampered slave aristoc- 
racy of the South have followed him with the deepest malio-- 
nity. Fashion and beauty incensed that at the sacrifice of 
oath and country he would not do obeisance to their assump- 
tion, have plied their fascinating dalliance to insinuate the 
venom of hatred and revenge into the heart of the Southern 



14 

gentry, while the more vulgar with the rapacity of their blood- 
dogs have hounded him ; they have exhausted the vocabulary 
of Billingsgate for opprobrious epithets wherewith to dishonor 
him; they have villified him as a drunkard, fool and tyrant. 
And when that miscreant leaped upon the stage and with the 
theatrical malevolence of the pit, shouted " Sic semper tyran- 
nis,''^ he only condensed and echoed the vile sentiment they 
have fostered. I observe that when the rebel leader heard of 
the assassination he shut himself up in his house at Kichmond, 
refusing to hear the details of the tragedy. Ah ! yes ; did 
conscience tell him that he and his co-conspirators, though not 
concerned, had gidli in that murder ? He is by no means the 
first who has sown the wind and cowered before the whirl- 
wind. The event which shocks the nation, is not isolated. It 
is linked to the past, and that past has its responsibility. 

But come now, you who have rebelled against the Govern- 
ment; your victim lies bleeding before you. Look at him. 
Did he ever take one step further in your path than you made 
necessary for the preservation of this free Government for 
your children and for ours ? Did he ever utter to you one 
unkind word? Has he done more than you would have done, 
if vou have not perjury in your soul, if you, as he, had that 
constitutional oath recorded in Heaven ? Come, look at your 
victim — your eyes may now glut themselves with vengeance ; 
but it would be more rational, let me say, that your hearts 
should be clothed with sorrow, for there ! there ! lies your 
best friend ! His patient, forgiving nature, was the rampart 
between your crime and an injured country. Think not that 
this Nation dies with him. No, it lives, and it will live. 
Hearts throb and stalwart men weep — but an event which would 
have shaken to their centres the monarchies of the Old World, 
does not produce a jar to our self-adjusting Government. And 
let me tell you, if you do not yet submit to the same laws 
which we rejoice to obey, one will rise up whose little finger 
shall be as that man's loins. 

This blow is hard to bear ! Martyr of liberty, great 



15 

sacrifice to thy Nation's existence, rest in thy Western grave ! 
Those of the opposing party, regretting any hasty word, not 
said in malice, that might have cast an insult on thy honored 
name, remembering that not one rancorous expression was 
ever tempted from thy lips — and seeing in thy death the in- 
fernal character of the principles against which your war of 
life was waged, will come with those who were your followers, 
and both will join with the down-trodden and the oppressed of 
this and of every land, and at thy tomb renew our devotion 
to the just and holy cause for which you lived and died. 

Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky, in 1809. He 
was the son of a poor man. He derives no distinction from 
ancestry, but sheds back upon it a bright lustre. When he 
was seven years old his father moved to Indiana, where, for 
twelve years the son lived, aiding in the support of the family. 
When Abraham Lincoln was about twenty years old, his 
father removed to Illinois, and he remained aiding the family 
until they were settled in their new home. Having learned to 
read and write during this period of his life, he studied most 
assiduously such elementary books as came in his way. His 
father's family settled, and he, being destitute of pecuniary 
means, hired himself out, some times as a day laborer, some 
times as a hand on a Mississippi flat-boat. At this period, and 
in these scenes, he learned, by impressive lessons, the value to 
each of God's creatures, of his own industry, his own muscles 
and capabilities, for that was all the patrimony he had. And 
he learned too, in the integrity of his nature, to look upon the 
self-appropriation of another's industry without compensation, 
as the meanest of all thefts and robberies. He learned the 
dignity of free human toil and that it, and not the ill-gotten 
gains of a pampered aristocracy, constituted the true wealth of 
the Nation. He learned that the very diversity of gifts that 
exist among men in this world — one being rich and another 
poor — created the mutual dependance of one man upon an- 
other ; for he saw that the man witb capital was as dependant 
on him for his labor, as he was upon the man of wealth for 



16 

his support; and he saw that this universal dependance of 
each member of society on the other members of society, con- 
stituted the equality of all men in society — and that as all men, 
hy their dependance^ were equal, they all had equal rights, and 
thus comprehended that great fundamental doctrine of our 
Government, " That all men are created equal." He learned 
that it was not " a glittering generality,'' but a great truth, 
affecting all the relations of men as citizens. These lessons 
thus learned, helped to prepare him for his great mission. 

After having gathered a little means, for a short time he 
followed the employment of a country merchant, and then the 
business of a surveyor. He then studied law, and soon took 
a prominent position at the bar — being employed in many 
important cases at the West. He was then sent to Congress, 
where he maintained a highly respectable and useful position. 

On his return from Congress, the question of slavery was 
agitating the country. Senator Stephen A. Douglas was a 
man of great talent and the foremost debater in the U. S. 
Senate ; and permit me to say, while he lived, he was as de- 
termined and patriotic an opposer of the rebellion as any man 
that has survived him. Douglas and Lincoln met at the 
hustings to discuss the great question of slavery — vast crowds 
followed them, the electric wire carried thpir speeches as de- 
livered all over the land. Those debates were of marked 
ability, and I believe that neither of those distinguished men 
ever claimed a victory, the one over the other. And the 
people were more enlightened and educated on the subject 
from these debates than from any other source. 

The ability displayed and the principles enunciated by Mr. 
Lincoln in these debates, induced the Eepublican party, in 
1860, to make him their candidate for the Presidency. That 
election was one of fearful interest and excitement. The slave 
section of the country had hitherto, by threats and menaces, 
carried almost every position they had taken, and they now 
pointed to the magazine aigd to the torch, saying that if ABRA- 
HAM Lincoln was elected President, the Union, the Nation, 



17 

should cease to exist. Many looked upon this as an idle threat ; 
others determined, that be the consequences what they might, 
they would lawfully and freely exercise the elective franchise. 
He was elected. They lighted the torch, and were preparing 
to apply it. Congress implored them to desist ; and, moved 
by love of country, to induce them to stay their hand, both 
the House of Eepresentatives and Senate, by a two-thirds vote, 
Eepublicans and Democrats voting together, on the 28th of 
February, 1861, passed a joint resolution, proposing the fol- 
lowing amendment to the Constitution of the United States : 

" No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which 
" will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or 
" interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions 
" thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by 
" the laws of said State." 

President Lincoln, in his inaugural address, plainly ex- 
pressed his approval of this amendment, and it was a measure 
of conciliation in which I then deeply sympathized. That 
was the hour of power for the Southern malcontents. Had 
they then desisted, this fair land of freedom would have be- 
come a pandemonium where slavery and all the crimes of 
which it is the prolific mother, would have had uncontrolled 
dominion and sway. But God in his infinite wisdom and 
mercy had better things in store for us ; and severe as has 
been the ordeal, this Nation, pruned from its iniquity, is yet 
to be the grandest aiid freest Christian Nation of the world. 

Having escaped a plot for his assassination, by changing his 
arrangements for travel, Mr. Lincoln arrived at Washington? 
and was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1861. And' he 
whom the vile fugitive has the hardihood to call a tyrant, 
thus at his inauguration addressed the South: "In your hands, 
" my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine^ is the 
" momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not 
" assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves 
" the aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven to 
" destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn 
" one to ' preserve, protect and defend it.' 
3 



18 

" I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends ; we 
" must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it 
" must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords 
" of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot 
" grave to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this 
" broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when 
" again touched, as surely they will be by the better angels of 
" our nature." 

These words had hardly reached the South when, on the 
14th of April, Sumter was fired on. Abraham Lincoln 
s^Drang to his feet and called for men, and most nobly did all 
parties of the North respond. And from that time to the 
hour of his death — in the Cabinet of the Nation, at the front, 
and in the trenches around the Capitol — he devoted himself to 
the great interests of his country. Others have wavered — 
others have desponded, but he never. And now to-day, in 
the august presence upon which he has entered, he can truly 
say : " The oath which I took before God and the Nation, I 
" have tried to fulfill." 

This is not the time or the place to follow the varying for- 
tunes of this war. To one act alone of Mr. Lincoln's I ad- 
vert. For a year and a half we had been unsuccessful in 
quelHng the rebellion. Mr. Lincoln believed it was his duty, 
as Commander-in-Chief, to deprive the rebels of that which 
supported them, and on the 22d of September, 1862, he issued 
his proclamation that in all those States, *which on the 1st of 
January, 1863, were in rebellion, the slaves should be free 

FOREVER. 

I shall not discuss the merits of that act. Of one thing I 
am certain, that Abraham Lincoln will never now recall it ! 
Yes, a second thing I know, that on those blissful shores, and 
in that atmosphere of love, where all are equals and all are 
free, he does not desire to-day to recall it ! Yes ! a third thing 
I know, the American people, seeing the havoc it has wrought, 
will never, never, never recall it. 

And now Abraham Lincoln's work is done. He has left 



19 

us forever ! He has accomplislied vastly more than at his in- 
duction to office he modestly promised. He did not live to 
see the full consummation of his labors, but from Pisgah he 
viewed the promised land. And to-day, we, of all political 
parties, viewing the altar where he lies a sacrifice, find our 
hearts moved to a warmer and higher patriotism. 

It is a delicate duty to interpret the Providence of God. 
One thing is certain — God never teaches us to hate any fellow 
creature, nor to take vengeance in our own hands. He teaches 
us to love justice and to loathe iniquity. And I believe this 
Providence should teach us to hate the Eebellion and Slavery, 
the murderers of our President, more than ever before, and in 
imitation of him we lament, and so far as is consistent with 
the inflexible laws of justice, forgive as we desire to be for- 
given. 

I have not the time or the ability to give a correct analysis 
of Mr. Lincoln's characteristics. He is not one of those 
ephemeral characters, to which a fervid imagination might add 
an unreal lustre, or from which a want of appreciation might 
detract. His life and character are substantial things in the 
world's history, upon which time, after a rigid scrutiny, will 
pass an irreversable judgment. That judgment will be to the 
honor of his name, and to the glory of the Nation. 

But pardon a word as to his characteristics. 

I do not believe in the truth of the maxim, " Vox populi, 
vox Dei,'''' but I do believe that no man has appended to his 
name by his associates in daily life, the prefix "honest" who 
is not a man of sterhng integrity, and he was known for years 
in the West as "Honest Abraham Lincoln." He was a 
faithful man. 

Many gifted men, fostered by our free institutions, have 
appeared on the stage of public life, but in how few of them 
has the keen and jealous vision of the people failed to dis- 
cover ambition, the taint of selfishness, and the stooping for 
power? But Mr. Lincoln is believed by the' people to have 
lived not for himself, but for his country. His star in the con-^ 



20 

stellations of history will be known as his, by its unsullied 
lustre. 

As a patriot, be did not confine bis efforts to tbe rescue, or 
to tbe grandeur of tbe Republic, and so convert even tbe Re- 
public, as did tbe Romans, into a magnifident idol, but in tbe 
"Universality of bis benevolence be comprebended tbe elevation 
and tbe bappiness of all bis countrymen — of tbe master as 
well as of tbe slave, and of tbose of bis race beyond tbe great 
waters as well as to tbose who are bere. 

As a statesman, I can otily say, tbat I tbink be was more 
wise, bad more foresight, more penetration into tbe future) 
tban most, perbaps tban any, of bis cotemporaries. So well 
convinced bad tbe people become of bis superior wisdom, tbat 
tbey rendered a cbeerful acquiescence in measures, wbicb, 
emanating from anotber, tbey would bave looked upon witb 
distrust and doubt. 

A word as to tbe qualities of bis beart. Tbe only stricture 
I ever beard upon bim in tbis regard is, tbat be was too kind 
and too lenient. Tbat is a blessed criticism for one wbo bas 
gone to Eternity, dependent npon tbe mercy of bis God. He 
was merciful to tbe transgressor, but did be ever parley witb 
tbe transgression? Tbe two offences be bad to deal witb 
were Slavery and Rebellion against Freedom. Let tbe man 
in all tbe world wbo bas done or suffered more for tbe de- 
struction of botb become bis critic. T cannot be. But be 
was tender -bearted, and often and often wben some poor boy- 
soldier bas been tempted to desert, and tbe military penalty of 
death bas been adjudged against bim, Mr. Lincoln bas inter- 
posed to save bis life. He may have been wrong, but right or 
wrong, we all love him tbe better for it. 

Of his religious character, I can only say, tbat be of all men 
was no pretender ; be was an Jionest man, and being so, the 
spirit of bis numerous proclamations are plenary evidence of 
his humble reliance on God. Pardon tbe recital of an inci- 
dent. A gentleman, as I am credibly informed, visited tbe 
President, and an interview was appointed for seven o'clock 



. ■ • 21 

the next morning. As the business was of much importance 
to the gentleman, he was on the alert, and when he reached 
the President's he found it was only six o'clock. He walked 
to the rear of the mansion and was attracted by a voice which 
he recognized as that of Mr. Lincoln, in a retired back room. 
He listened and found the President was praying to his God 
for his country. 

We need not this proof— the man's life, principles and 
utterances, prove his faith. And we may joyfully believe that 
a life of so much excellence was but the preface to a better 
life — clothed in a righteousness not his own. 

I might detain you longer. I might point out to you what 
he accomplished for us, but I forbear. 

Let me only say : He has established it, that the will of the 
majority, restrained onli/ by the Constitution of our fathers, is 
the sovereign power of this Nation. He has established it, that 
this Government is not a confederation of petty sovereignties, 
any of which may at will dissolve the Government, but that 
we are a great Nation, having in ourselves under God, the 
power of life and of self-preservation. 

He has done one thing more. 

When the Eoman master would free a slave, he brought 
him to the Court of the Pra3tor Urbanus in the Forum, placed 
him on a stool, then gave him a whirl, and in the hearing of 
all the people shouted, " Liher Esto ! Liber Esto ! " Be Free ! 
Be Free ! raid he became a freedman. 

Abraham Lincoln, as the instrument of God, has in the 
cadence of heavenly music shouted, " Liber Esto ! Liber Esto f" 
before the world in the ears of four millions of God's creatures. 

Rest now — thy work is done, thy life's an epoch and a 
blessing. Rest ! 

" For thou art Freedom's now and Fame's 
" One of the few, the immortal names 
" That were not bom to die." 



22 

THE REMAINS IN NEW JERSEY. 

On Monday, April 24tli, the remains of the lamented President passed 
through Newark, accompanied by Messrs. Marcus L. Ward, Josepu 
P. Bradley, Andrew Lemassena, Frederick B. KunNnoLD, Cort- 
LANDT Parker and Andrew Atha, of the Citizens' Committee. The 
Newark Daily Advertiser, of tlie 24th, says : 

" Shortly after 7 o'clock this morning, crowds of people began to 
gather upon Railroad avenue, between Market and Chestnut streets, and 
soon not only covered the entire street but all the adjoining house-tops, 
sheds and windows. A feeling of deep sorrow appeared to pervade the 
entire mass, while the fluttering of the black trimmings from the neigh- 
boring buildings, the mourning liadges upon the coat or mantle, and 
the other tokens of grief, gave an unusually sombre cast to the scene. 

" Shortly before 9 o'clock, the members of the Common Council, city 
officers, clergy, a detachment of the Veteran Reserve Corps, and the city 
police, took possession of the Market street depot, and after removing 
the crowd, awaited the arrival of the train, whose approach had been 
announced by the arrival of the pilot locomotive, heavily draped in 
mourning. Its appearance was heralded Ijy the tolling of bells and the 
firing of minute guns, and as the train with the remains passed slowly 
along the avenue, heads were uncovered and bowed with reverence, 
many persons shedding tears. 

" The cars remained at the depot only a few minutes and then pro- 
ceeded to Jersey City, passing large numbers of citizens who had gath- 
ered at the various street crossings, and the Centre street station and 
East Newark." 

[From the Newark Daily Advertiser, April 26tb, 1865.] 

" A correspondent of the Boston Advertiser, who accompanied the 
funeral train from Washington to New York, says of the scene in this 
city on Monday morning : 

'The incidents of the morning's journey were similar to those seen 
elsewhere. Sometimes the track was lined on Ijoth sides for miles with 
a continuous array of peojjle. The most impressive scene of the whole 
route thus far was furnished by the city of Newark, although no stoj) of 
any length was made there. The track runs directly through the city, 
and the space on each side of the road is very broad, and aftbrded amijle 
room for spectators. It seemed as if the inhabitants of Newark had re- 
solved to turn out en masse to pay their brief tribute of respect to the 
memory of the departed as his coflhi passed by. For a distance of a 
mile the observer on the train could perceive only one sea of human 
beino's. It was not a crowd surging^ with excitement or imi)atience like 
most great assemblages, but stood quiet and ajjparently subdued with 
orief unspeakable. Every man with hardly an exception, from one end 
of the town to the other, stood bareheaded while the train passed, half 
of the women were crying, and evei'y face bore an exjiression of sincere 
sadness. Housetops, fences, and the very switches beside the track, 
were covered with men. Words can do np justice to the spectacle. We 



23 

have becpmc used to thrilling scenes by the experience of our journey, 
biit iiowhere have we seen anything more touching than the simple una- 
nimity with which the men and women of Newark left their avocations 
and waited beside the track for the passage of the funeral train.' 

" We may add to the above, that Governor Stone, of Iowa, who was 
on the train, stated to a gentleman of this city that at no point in the 
long journey had the tribute to the lamented deceased exceeded in fervor 
and touching solemnity that here displayed." 



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